A little weight lifting can help your heart



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TUESDAY, November 27, 2018 (HealthDay News) – One hour or less of weightlifting a week could significantly reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke, according to new research.

By assessing nearly 12,600 adults over more than a decade, scientists discovered that small amounts of weekly resistance exercise were associated with cardiovascular events between 40 and 70% less.

But doing more weightlifting has not further reduced these risks.

"Strength training is not just about being handsome in the beach," said Dr. Alon Gitig, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Riverside Medical Group in Yonkers, New York.

"It has definite health benefits … and seems to have a direct impact on cardiovascular health," added Gitig, who did not participate in the study.

Weightlifting uses muscle resistance to strengthen and develop muscles. Other types of resistance exercises include pushups, sit ups or lunges.

The author of the study, Duck-chul Lee, said: "Traditionally, weightlifting was aimed at athletes, and that's why I think there are fewer of evidence of its health benefits, especially for the heart. " Lee is an associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.

"People know that running or cardio training is good for the cardiovascular system, but weightlifting has benefits on the heart that are not [previously] well studied, "added Lee.

In a research published separately, Lee and his colleagues found that less than an hour of weekly weightlifting also reduced the risk of hypercholesterolemia and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions related to diabetes. These reports are in the log Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

For the study of heart disease and stroke, researchers studied almost 12,600 participants (47 years old on average) who had undergone at least two clinical examinations between 1987 and 2006. Participants reported their level of exercise against resistance and a follow-up was performed about five times. and 10 years later.

The results indicated that the benefits of resistance exercises on heart risk and stroke were independent of aerobic exercises such as walking or running, Lee said.

Compared to participants who did not exercise resistance, those who participated one to three times and up to 59 minutes each week saw their risk decrease up to 70 %.

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